Transforming a Nation

Where it all began. February 10th 2010 Horizon’s Men’s retreat Rancho Murrieta Hot Springs. The men from Roots Christian Fellowship Tehachapi  joined with the men from Horizon San Diego to do a men’s retreat. Over 300 men attended. Daryl Ragsdale and Henry Schaeffer hatched a plan and invited the two communities into it. Thus, began the concept of Together. When we came home from that retreat, Daryl wanted to do a men’s study for the entire city of Tehachapi, Henry went to work on putting it together and I guess Buddy Cummings committed to bank role the endeavor.  Mikey Herrera from Bakersfield put the “Together” flyer together which brought Kyle Phillips in when he saw the flyer at the Christian Book Store. He said it was the word “Together” that brought him in. Tony Rubino joined in with Ryan Beauchamp, Jay Shipman and the rest of the characters.

What God May Be Up To:

Fast forward 14 years to, October 2024 and it is the beginning of a new season for Henry and his wife Colleen. The work of the Father that started for the young couple in October 2002, with the formation of the community of Roots Christian Fellowship, adding to it men’s discipleship (Together) in October of 2010.  Grace Fellowship was added as a partner, youth discipleship was added next, Influencers of Bakersfield in 2018 brought a level of intentionality and structure with an expanded relational network. House church and the congregation of The Vineyard Tehachapi were the last pieces added in 2020 ensuing the pandemic. All of this, built a foundation of faith which I and my family are standing on.  Here is where we believe God the Father is moving and working.

1.  God is building his church.  Tearing down walls, generously welcoming all sizes, cultures and shapes of church into his universal church. Respecting the boundaries of the assemblies but removing barriers for connection. [Revelation 7:9]
2. Restoring awe and wonder to our church experience. God formed man from the dust and his breath brought him to life. Without the breath of god in our assemblies, they are just dust, lifeless. [Genesis 2:7]
3. Generatively building the church through relationships, through people, adding numbers to the bride daily. Meaning, there are people in the church, with the Holy Spirit that are actively working, without titles, to build, edify, disciple and partner with their local church fellowships. Building Christ body as the priority and local assemblies and ministries secondarily. [Acts 2:1-41]

The work I do:

“So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”
‭‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I believe it is an important step to first realize the work that our father is doing first before we state the work we do alongside of him. For even Jesus only did what he saw his father do. What I do flows out of who I am. My spiritual gifts are Hospitality, Encouragement and I am Evangelistic at heart.  Throw in an Apostolic mind and a dash of leadership and you have the mainl line up. God gave me a love for people ultimately and when I stand before his throne it is for this will I have to give an account. What did I do with his heart for people that was given to me as a gift. Here is what I do along side my father.

1.  I gather people into groups and center them around Jesus.
2. I Disciple people into the ways of Jesus
3. Help people find their identity and gifting in Christ
4. Raise up leaders
5. Cast Vision
6. Catalyze opportunities
7. Network/build kingdom Community

The work that needs to be done

The work that needs to be done is best depicted by the parable that Jesus gave about new wine.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭5‬:‭37‬ ‭ESV‬‬

There are two large pieces of work that I believe needs to be done in this season.  Which is the discipleship of this next generation (The new wine) and the formation of the fellowship (Or wine skin) that will resource and contain the work necessary to disciple and raise the leadership of this new generation.  Below are bullet points outlining the work that needs to be done.

• Small group discipleship for the entire family. Groups for students with adult/parent guides. Men’s groups & women’s groups.
• Fellowship creation that works in conjunction with larger church assemblies. Meeting monthly on a Sunday, 4:30pm with the entire assembly while still allowing the members to attend their larger assemblies if they have one.
• Writing the devotions and teachings of the small groups and monthly gatherings. Building the team that has the authority to speak to both the moment we are in and the specific community we represent.
• Building the Technology for that helps build the community. Some people just find Tech solutions but visionaries build it. It is a blessing and a curse!  Here is the current software suit that has been built.
• Communication platform
• Database
• Devotion creation tool
• Spiritual gift assessment
• (Under construction- Webpage, with Donation function and integrated functions)

A working model of this began organically over the last 4 years at the Woods house in Tehachapi.  It started as a high school discipleship group but has grown into a medium size fellowship, which is out growing the Woods house and the fellowships resources.  The next step is a greater partnership with the Vineyard Church of Tehachapi and Grace Fellowship Tehachapi to allow the growth of this fellowship to be contained and resourced by larger local church communities.  The same dynamic is happening again at Bakerafield Christian High School.  We want to see greater Kingdom growth and health be born out of both is these high school discipleship movements.

What did I Learn during my Last Season at Influencers of Bakersfield  

1. The power of Intentional, structured Discipleship
2. My heart as an evangelist was nurtured and established.
3. I learned I have a greater sphere of influence. God expanded my territory.
4. I learned how to stand as a minority voice, with Christ authority, even when it is costly.
5. I realized the great need of spiritual authority and maturity in leadership for my next move.
6. I have Blind Spots.  Here is what came out
7. I was a guy who demanded his way and his voice to be heard.
8. Money was still an idol in my life.
9. I am an inconsistent communicator and this makes me very hard to partner with
10. My lack of organization was exposed by the scale of the ministry.
11. And at the end of the day, I am not a man of my word.
12. Through all of this, I learned I was promoted

Establishment of the Ministry

1. Foundation of ministry has to be built upon faith in what God is doing, not what man can create.
2. Non-profit container finished.
3. Creation of oversight counsel.
4. Stewardship over people, vision and resources we are given authority over.
5. Faithfulness to nurture personal faith and corporate worship.

Funding of the Ministry

[‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬]‭
“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Funding of the ministry will come through faith in Gods provision through “Prayer & Humbly asking God for what is needed.”  Practically by:

1.  Making the request/need know and allowing a faithful community to respond.
2. “Tent Building”. Being available to work as opportunities present themselves so that the ministry might be self supporting in time.

2025 Budget

Donation